This screening is part of: ARCHIVES OF POWER: THE PALESTINIAN FILM ARCHIVE AND THE ERASURE OF HISTORY

OFF FRAME is a meditation on the Palestinian people’s struggle to produce an image and self-representation on their own terms in the 1960s and 1970s, with the establishment of the Palestine Film Unit as part of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization). Unearthing films stored in archives across the world after an unprecedented feat of research, the documentary begins with popular representations of modern Palestine and traces the works of militant filmmakers in reclaiming images and narratives through revolutionary and militant cinema. In resurrecting a forgotten memory of struggle, OFF FRAME reanimates what is within the frame, but also weaves a critical reflection by looking for what is outside it, or what is off-frame.

Preceded by:
Layali Bader THE ROAD TO PALESTINE 1983, 7.5 min, 16mm-to-digital. In Arabic with English subtitles. Produced by the PLO. Restored in 2019 by The Void Project & London Palestine Film Festival.
An animated short film for children. The film is based on the testimony of the girl Laila, who lives in a Palestinian refugee camp.

Ali Siam JERUSALEM, FLOWER OF ALL CITIES 1969, 8 min, 16mm-to-digital. In Arabic with English subtitles. Cinematography by Hani Jawharieh. Produced by the Jordanian Ministry of Culture. Restored in 2017 by Azza El-Hassan, the founder of “The Void Project”, with the support of Creative Interruptions AHRC.

In this short film, set to the famous song by Fairouz, “Flower of All Cities”, a harmonious picture of Palestinian civil life in Jerusalem is disturbed by the Israeli army’s occupation of the city following the 1967 war. A rare example of the work of Hani Jawharieh, one of the founding fathers of Palestinian cinema.

Total running time: ca. 85 min.